You Really Are Much More Than Just A Weight Lifter

Training program is entirely focused on left side rehabilitation with secondary focus on core strength and body recomposition. There is entirely too much disparity in strength between sides to train with any sort of intensity or effectiveness using bilateral training methods. I will be focusing on DB's and machine work. I will be training lower body with DB and machine work as well. I cannot risk further injury or aggravation to my neck doing barbell work.

My core strength work is still in development but I would like to incorporate some exercise ball work that is so foreign to me that it will likely kick my ass. I will be soliciting the assistance of a trainer at the gym to give me some direction and guidance in this area.

My body composition will be transformed with a hypocaloric diet, rich in protein and EFA's and low/mod in complex carbohydrates. I will incorporate low intensity cardio at a 65-75% max hr (approx 115-130bpm) immediately after my resistance training. I may implement additional cardio exercise via racketball, basketball or an aerobic class as desired. I may also perform cardio multiple times in the day.

The following is a list or products that I will be using during my rehabilitation. The contents listed below is for at least a 90 days period of time. Some of the dosing is still yet to be determined. Things like AP will be on a trial dose basis as I will be consuming low/mod carbohydrates and am uncertain how I will respond with that sort of macronutrient ratio. Things like Sesathin and Fish Oil may be increased or decreased as desired depending upon response. Some products may be added or removed based on availability and or resources.

My 17 yo son will be here with me for 6 weeks and I will be training him. My primary focus at the gym will be quality time with my son. He is in need of some direction and guidance in developing his own training and diet disciplines and I will be training him and providing him a strict diet plan as well. I am hopeful that this will allow me to work my plan and not be to obsessed with my own asthetics or performance. I have a lot of work to do and I cannot be feeling sorry for myself. He is a very good kid and I really like him as well as love him. My visitation arrangements, at times, has left me desperate to mentor and father him more intimately and in person and I believe that my humility may be of some character development for him as well.

I will be going through the motions for the rest of the week working out some details on my routine. This may be all over the place because of relearning motor skills and some aggravating factors that may arise.

I also tend to rant on more significant things like introspection, perseverance as well as some inspirational music references and my faith. This is my log, as a member, not and owner or shareholder of AM. The opinions expressed by myself are not necessarily shared by the AM staff nor am I required to be impartial to any who happen to disagree with me

Comments:
Additional supplements should be in the mail today or tomorrow or at least by the end of the week. I am working on getting things into a routine and you guys know how timing can be with consuming some of these things. I will be more complete and more orderly by the beginning of the the week Monday.

I am still obviously working at a very very low weight. Some machines have just enough weight all on their own for the very slow eccentric focused work I am doing. This is to stimulate tendon tissue and facilitate some stability and motor skill. It is a challenge for me to keep my other muscle groups from trying to compensate for weakness in the injured muscles. My mind muscle connection is coming together nicely and I am beginning to get a good solid pump.

Opportunities:
Humility: I spoke with someone at the PT desk. I mentioned that I was training for rehabilitation of a serious injury and that I would like to get some guidance on some core strength training using the exercise ball. I mentioned that I have rather extensive experience with bodybuilding and resistance training and would like to focus on my core, as I am quite ignorant to ball work. I told him I had not yet taken that "initial free PT consultation" that came with my membership and that I would like to schedule it now and I would like to have it catered specifically to exercise ball core strength work because I was well versed in resistance training. This kid proceeded to give me the lip service about how it is important to be taught the basic resistance training principles and techniques so I would know how to do things the right way. Well...I didn't go there with him

My grandmother passed away June 24th. I managed to fly out on the 23rd to see her just before she passed. Got my wife and daughter there that same night but they did not see her conscious. We went to her room the morning of the 24th. She was sedated which was a whole lot nicer to see than to see her suffering the way she was when I last told her I loved her the night before. We left her room at 12:21PM EST and she passed at 12:35PM EST. My wife and daughter were the last of a whole line of family who managed to get to be with her before she passed.

I'm still a bit numb right now. I got there in time to see her suffering and it has broken my heart just a bit. I am the first grandchild and my oldest daughter is the first great-grandchild and my youngest daughter is the last great-grandchild. She has always been important to us and I have always felt special in some respects because of my birth order and that of my children. My grandma always made me feel like I was her favorite.

We lost my grandfather 3 years ago, almost to the week of my grandmother. I saw him a couple months before he passed. I knew it would likely be the last time I saw him so I made sure to represent my entire family as well as I could in letting him know how much he meant to us all. Ironically it was my youngest daughters first and only visit seeing her great-grandfather. We have a picture of the visit with the two of them together. It was the very last picture taken of my grandfather.

Suffice is to say that I am quite out of sorts right now. An entire generation of my family is gone now. I am trying to get to a place where I can celebrate living again. I know it will pass. I am just sort of stuck right now.

Thanks for listening. This is the first I have spoken of this on the board.

I have been training with my son as planned. I will try to update this log if I get motivated to do so. I am making no promises.

Quite candidly I have been in a situation with work where I have been unable to attend regularly for a while. I had an opportunity to go to a weekend shift, working F,S,S. It gave me a 15% raise and 4 hours of free pay because I work 3-12's and get paid for 40.

It was nice being away from the weekday workplace nonsense. It was also nice being with my daughter weekdays since she was doing half day kindergarten and I could spend a lot of time with her.

Well like most things there is a price. The novelty of the shift has worn off. Plus I end up doing work F,S,S that three guys don't get done from Monday thru Thursday plus my workload. Then there are weekends that there is zero to do and I spend an entire day doing nothing. That can be even worse.

But the real price has been not regularly attending worship services. Back 5 or 6 years ago I used to be the sound tech at my old church and my wife was the church secretary. Don't get me wrong, I am no holy roller (was struggling with alcohol and wound up doing some time for a couple DUI's...old story) but despite those struggles and my foolishness there was a lot of fellowship and growth taking place.

I made a point this week to work Thursdays, Friday and Saturday and depending upon the workload I saw on Saturday night I would go in for a few hours on Sunday morning. I already made arrangements with the job to do it. It just happened to be that this Sunday it was not slow and I had more to do than I could get done. So I went in on Sunday and tried to complete what I had started Saturday and could not finish before I needed to leave to go to service.

I sang that song "Better Is One Day" as part of the worship team. It was the first song I ever sang with them and it moved me to tears while doing so. While singing it yesterday at worship service I was on the line "My heart and flesh cry out, for You the living God, Your spirit's water for my soul, I've tasted and I've seen, Come once again to me, I will draw near to You" and I realized that I need to draw nearer to Him with greater commitment.

Being part of the Body has an ability to change who and what you are. God does not desire our qualifications He desires our commitment.

I ended up returning to work for a few hours. I went back with my son and I finished the project I was working on. Nick's testimony was on my mind and reminded me how blessed I am to have a whole body and how my injury is so so so insignificant in the big picture of life. I also remembered how blessed I am to have a job that I often am disgruntled with because there are fathers who wish they could provide for their families and be as disgruntled as I am.

I will be making the same arrangements at work from now on. I know that God will see to it that the powers that be at work will continue to allow me to do so and/or adjust my schedule without any financial hardship. The fact that I am very capable in my field of work, practice much integrity in my work and outperform all of my pears might have some influence in clearing the path for me.

The rehab training is slow, with a couple setbacks that put me out of the gym last week. This may take years or more to fully recover if at all possible. In light of what Nick has reminded me of, I think I'll get over it.

Still staying away from the gym. I did something that aggravated and I need to give it time to rest. I have an idea of what it was and I will try to find an alternative.

I have been regularly taking SuperCissus and PowerFULL. I initially noticed a slight "cissus pump" when taking it 4-5x's per day but not much more. I have continued with that dose or more with still nothing noticeable. Would be nice if it was providing anti-cortisol benefits.

I have noticed significant response to PowerFULL. I have noticed improved mood and sense of well being. I have also noticed an increase in libido, erectile strength and size as well as a significant lowering/hanging of testies. I attribute the testies to the proposed mechanism of stimulating LH. I have been on TRT for quite some time and there is little to no LH output and a slight reduction of testie size. I noticed this change just a few days into using PowerFULL. I have also noticed an increase in ejaculate volume which also could be attributed to the PowerFULL (and maybe the Maca and Fenugreek). I have discussed this in another thread earlier this week or so. I like it enough to consider buying it in bulk and dosing really high for the pro-sexual properties.

Unfortunately I have not experienced much as far as sleep improvement but the dreams have been vivid and different when I have had some quality sleep.

The green tea is some very potent stuff. I discussed this in another thread as well.

I have yet to incorporate the AP and will hold off until I can get more productive in the gym.

I have not dropped the cash for the nicotine gum. I did get a can of skoal pouches but I really don't chew and really am in no mood for that nasty taste in my mouth.

I used the Ab-Solved for a couple weeks. I have stopped dosing 2x a day for the last week or so because I have not been in the gym getting in my cardio. I did see the initial reduction of stomach bulge that I always get but have not really given it enough cardio recently to get the full potential that it has. I have a bottle left so I can give it a go later on.

I had the opportunity to drive up to northern Arizona (Sedona) with my wife, son and daughter yesterday. Nice to get up to the red rocks of northern AZ as well as get out of the heat in the valley. We were fortunate to get some thunderstorms and some cool weather. Had some good times skimming stones with my boy.

My son pulled out my GNR Use Your Illusion II CD and we road tripped around the valley highways earlier this afternoon. Man, what a great band they used to be. Was cool watching my son get into the same music that I used to listen to. UYIII was one of the last they had to offer and one of my favorites.